What does “Islam” mean? The word الإسلام [Islam] is an infinitive word derived from س ل م [silm] root in if‘al pattern and used as noun and infinitive. The word silm means “release/keeping away; and to be distant from fear, doubt, trouble, lack of peace, unhappiness, fight, war, pain, suffering, material and spiritual inconveniences, weakness and decaying, and all the negativities.” This word is also the root of salim, selam, teslim, Islam etc. The word’s “Islam” form means “strengthening” [removal from problems, worries, fear, unhappiness, fights, wars, and similar negative things]. Hence, the religion Islam means the “the religion that strengthens humans [entire range of principles that protects and secures people by putting a distance between them and problems, worries, war, weakness, spiritual illness, unhappiness, and similar things].”

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SURAH SABA’ (SHEBA)
MECCAN PERIOD
Division: 220
1All praise be upon Allah, to whom belongs all that which is in the Heavens
and on the Earth; no one else may be praised. All praise will be upon Him in the
Akhirat [Afterlife]; no one will be praised. And He is the Best Law-Maker and the
One Who Precludes Corruption the Best/the One Who Makes Incorruptible the Best,
He knows best what is behind all things, what is hidden.
2Allah knows better what penetrates into the ground and what emerges from it,
what descends from the Heavens and what ascends to it. And He has Wide Mercy,
He is the Most Forgiving of the sins of His servants, the One Who does not punish
them and the Most Forgiving of all.
(58/34; Saba’/1-2)
Division: 221
3,4And those infidels; those who consciously deny the Divinity of Allah and the
fact that He is Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] said: “The
Hour of Doomsday will not come upon us”. Say: “Indeed it will come upon you. I
swear by my Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] Who knows
the unseen, the unheard, the unfelt, the past and the future that it will come upon you
to recompense those who believe and do good deeds –those are the ones to whom
will be the forgiveness and blessings in abundance-. Nothing in the Heavens and on
the Earth, even weighing as much as an atom, can escape from Him. All that which is
smaller and larger than that is contained within a clear Scripture”.
5And those who try to cover up My evidence/signs; for them will be the painful
and evil punishment.
6Those who have been given the knowledge now see that that which has been
sent down by your Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] is the
Truth itself. And that/the Qur’an which has been sent down guides you to the path of
the One Who is the Most Exalted, the Almighty, the Most Honorable, the
Invincible/the Subduer, the One Who is Praised, the One Who is Worthy of praising.
7,8And those infidels; those who consciously deny the Divinity of Allah and the
fact that He is Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] said:
“Should we show you the one who informs you saying, ‘you will be in a new

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creation when you decompose and disintegrate into pieces’? Did he attribute a lie to
Allah or is he a madman?”. Quite contrary, those who do not believe in Akhirat
[Afterlife] is indeed in torment and a perversion afar.
9Then, do they not look at that which descends from the Heavens or emerge
from the ground, that which is in their front and behind them? Had We wished so,
We would have had them swallowed by the ground. Or We would have rained upon
them pieces from the Heavens. Surely, this is evidence/a sign for every servant who
turns to Allah/who devotes himself to the Truth.
(58/34; Saba’/3-9)
Division: 222
10,11And surely, We favored David over his people and gave them the birds; “O
mountains! Turn with him!” And We made iron soft for him: Produce many armors
and measure in forming. –Do good deeds. Surely, I am the Best Seeing of what you
do.-
12And for Solomon, We made that wind, which is gone for a month and is back
for a month, prostrate before him; and We flooded molten copper for him. And We
made those foreigners who worked for him with the knowledge/will of his Rabb [the
Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] prostrate before him. And the ones
of them who dared to go astray from Our command; We made them taste the wrath
of the blazing fire.
13They would build for Solomon anything he wishes, private headquarters,
statues/paintings and bows like pools and fixed cauldrons. –O family of David! Work
in gratitude for what you are given! But only a few among My servants is grateful for
the blessings they are given!-
14And when We took his life; nothing indicated his death other than that
creature which ate his scepter. Only the crawling creature/worm which ate his scepter
made them know about his death. And when he fell upon his face, it was revealed
that: “Had those foreigners known about the death of Solomon, which they had not,
they would not be in that humiliating punishment; in longing, homesickness, slavery,
hard work, they would have not been chained.”242
(58/34; Saba’/10-14)
Division: 223
15Surely, there was evidence/a sign for the people of Sheba in where they lived:
Two gardens, one at the right and one at the left! –“Eat the blessings of your Rabb
[the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] and be grateful to Him for the

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blessings He gives you! O how a beautiful place and a Most Forgiving Rabb you
have!”-
16But they turned away; they were ungrateful for what they were given. We
flooded upon them the water from the dams and turned their two gardens into two
gardens yielding wrinkly fruits, tamarisks with some “persimmon trees”.
17This is how We punished them for they uttered blasphemies; consciously
denied the Divinity of Allah and the fact that He is Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the
Nurturer, the Sustainer]. And We only punish those who are ungrateful.
18And We built adjoining cities for them between the land We adorned with
Our blessings. And We made straight paths to and from them: -Travel safely by night
and day!-
19Then they said: “O our Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the
Sustainer]! Widen the distance between our travels!” and did injustice to their souls
by doing wrong; acting against their own good. Then We made them tales and
disintegrated them into pieces. Surely, this is evidence/a sign for those who are
grateful for what they are given.
20And surely, Iblis/thinking ability243 acknowledged his judgment for them and
a community other than the believers followed Iblis.
21Yet, Iblis had no authority over them. But in Akhirat [Afterlife], We would
separate those who believe from those who have insufficient knowledge about him;
mark them and inform. And your Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the
Sustainer] is the Protector of all.
(58/34; Saba’/15-21)
Division: 224
22Say: “Call upon those subordinates of Allah whom you wrongly worship.
They cannot possess the weigh of an atom in the Heavens and on the Earth. No
partnership is for them in both of them [the Heavens and the Earth]. Therefore, none
of them can be an assistant for Him”.
23And for Him, assistance, support and favor244 benefit only those who He
permits. And when terror is removed from their hearts, they shall say: “What has
your Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] said?”. They shall
say: “The Truth”. And He is the Highest, the Greatest.

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24Say: “Who bestows upon you the blessings from the Heavens and the
Earth?”. Say: “Allah! And surely, we or you are on a path to which we are guided or
in a blatant perversion”.
25Say: “You will not be responsible for our sins. And we will not be
responsible for yours”.
26Say: “Our Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] will
gather us together and then separate us with His judgment in the Truth. And He is the
One Who opens the doors of good, the Best Judge, the Best Knowing.
27Say: “Show me those whom you associate with Allah! Certainly not as you
think… No! Quite contrary, He is the Most Exalted, the Almighty, the Most
Honorable, the Invincible/the Subduer, the One Who Precludes Corruption the
Best/the One Who Makes Incorruptible the Best”.
28And We have sent you as the bringer of good tidings and a warner for all
mankind, but most of them do not know.
29And they say: “When will your promise be fulfilled, if you are righteous?”.
30Say: “That day is predetermined so you cannot take it back an hour nor
advance it an hour”.
31And those infidels; those who consciously deny the Divinity of Allah and the
fact that He is Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] said: “We
will absolutely not believe in this Qur’an and any before it…”. If you could see those
who associate others with Allah, utter blasphemies thus doing wrong; acting against
their own good before the presence of Allah! Those who are oppressed will say to
those who act arrogantly: “If not for you, we would have believed”.
32Those who act arrogantly will say to those who are oppressed: “Did we keep
you from the guidance after it had been sent upon you? Quite contrary, you became
sinners by yourselves”.
33Those who are oppressed will say to those who act arrogantly: “Quite
contrary, that was the plot of the night and the day! You were commanding us not to
believe in Allah and to invent partners for Him”. When they see the wrath they shall
hide their repentance. We will put iron shackles unto the necks of those infidels;
those who consciously deny the Divinity of Allah and the fact that He is Rabb [the
Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer]. They shall only be recompensed for
what they do.

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34And every time We sent a warner to a city, arrogant chefs of that city would
say:” We are the ones who consciously deny/do not believe Your Ayat/messages
You have sent with the warner”.
35And they would also say: “We are wealthy and have many sons and we will
never be punished”.
36Say: “Surely, my Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer]
extends His blessings or restricts them for whom He wishes. But most of them do not
know that”.
37And it is not your wealth nor sons that will bring you closer to Us. Those who
believe and do good deeds will be recompensed many times for their deeds. And they
shall be safe in their elevated mansions.
38And those who haste to make Our Ayat/evidence/signs fail; they are the ones
who will be gathered in agony.
39Say: “Surely, my Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer]
extends or restricts His blessings for whomever He wishes. And whatever you
spend/give away for the path of Allah, He immediately supports it. For He is the Best
Provider of blessings”.
40And on that day, Allah will gather them together and say to angels: “It was
them who used to worship you?”.
41They shall say: “Be exonerated. You are our guide. Quite contrary, they used
to worship hidden forces. Most of them used to believe in them”.
42On this day, you will not be able to benefit or harm each other. And We will
say to those who are stuck in the associating: “Taste the wrath of the blazing fire
which you used to deny!”.
(58/34; Saba’/22-42)
Division: 225
43And when Our Ayat were recited to them as clear evidence, they said: “He is
not different; he only wants to forbid you from the gods your ancestors used to
worship”. And also said: “The Qur’an is nothing but a fabricated lie”. Infidels; those
who consciously deny the Divinity of Allah and the fact that He is Rabb [the Lord,
the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer]; when the Truth is revealed to them, they
said: “Surely, this is nothing but a blatant sorcery”.

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44And We did not send upon them such scriptures to take lessons. And We did
not sent a warner to them before you.
45Those before them denied as well. These people failed to reach a tenth nor a
thousandth of what We had given to those before them. Despite this, they denied My
messengers. Then, how was my denial/reproach?
46Say: “I only advice you to stand up in pairs, triplets and individually, then
think about your friend, Muhammad, that he is not a madman but a warner sent to
warn you to avoid a blazing fire”.
47Say: “Whatever payment that I demand from you is for you; is that you get
closer to Allah. My reward is only from Allah. And He is the Witness of all”.
48Say: “Surely, my Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the
Sustainer]fulfills the justice. He knows best the unseen, the unheard, the unfelt, the
past and the future”.
49Say: “The Qur’an/the Truth contained in the Qur’an has arrived. And
superstition cannot reprise nor revive; now there is nothing it can do”.
50Say: “I have gone astray, I have gone astray against myself. And if I have
found the righteous path that I have been guided, then it is due to the revelations
from my Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer]. Surely, He is
the Best Hearing, the Closest One”.
(58/34; Saba’/43-50)
Division: 226
51If you could see them when fear surrounds them; but there will be no escape.
And they shall have been seized from a place nearby.
52And they said: “We have believed”. But how could a hand be extended/how
could it be possible to reach them from a place so far?.
53But they had certainly denied/disbelieved Him before, on the Earth. They
were talking vain from a place far away.
54Then a barrier will be set between them and their desires, as with those before
them. surely, they were in an anguishing doubt.
(58/34; Saba’/51-54)

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242 These Ayat deal with Solomon (P.B.U.H.), who is given as a model for the grateful
servants and also the blessings bestowed. As can be understood fromthe Ayat, among the blessings
bestowed to Solomon were utilizing winds to move sailboats and windmills, producing tools from
melted copper, travelling to and from far places quickly, employing foreign-master craftsmen in
crafting, mastery, engineering and architecture.
In the previous passage, his father, David (P.B.U.H.) is mentioned to process iron; in
this passage, on the other hand, Solomon is mentioned to use copper. The ability to process iron and
copper respectively, shows the grandeur of the blessings bestowed upon these two prophets/rulers.
The phrase “We have made melted copper mine to flood” mentioned in the Ayah may imply
that there were no copper mines in the land where Solomon lived and the copper mentioned was
imported with ships from far places such as Cyprus. Then, the name of Cyprus originated from
copper.
The phrase, “And whoever from among them went astray from Our commands, We made him
taste the wrath of the blazing fire” mentioned in the end of the 12th Ayah represents – as can be
understood from the conclusion of the 14th Ayah – the absolute dominion of Solomon over themand
foreign workers worked for him unwillingly. A brief information on the Jinn of Solomon is given in
the Footnote No. 171.
Demonic Jinn, who waged slandering and defamatory campaigns against Solomon and did
their best to overthrow and eliminate him were capable craftsmen who worked reluctantly. Aware of
this, Solomon employed them to the full extent by force.
243 In these Ayat, it is stated that the people of Sheba followed Iblis and transgressed
while not being forced to do so by Iblis and consequently, they were punished. In the Ayah, certain
messages, which are previously expressed using figurative narration (Official Mushaf: Surah Al-
Araf/16-17, Division 69; Surah Al-Isra/62, Division 165; Al-Hijr/39-40, Division 199) were referred
to.
In these Ayat, it is told that Iblis would make all the people, except for a group of few,
transgress and ungrateful. The fate of the people of Sheba is a great example of this function of Satan.
Because they were ungrateful thus supporting Satan’s intentions.
244 See Footnote No. 57